


Episode 2.14: The Incredible Spider-Hulk

by Starbooks13



Series: Spiders Have To Stick Together [40]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Ultimate Spider-Man (Cartoon)
Genre: And So Do Avengers, And that needs to be fixed, Because the Marvel animated shows are horrible to Bruce, Because this is my story damnit, Blending Universes, Bruce Banner Needs a Hug, Bruce Banner-centric, Bruce Feels, Bruce's Hulk-angst, Bruce/Natasha if you squint, Caring Natasha Romanov, Gen, Hulk likes being called Hulk, I don't care now about what Age of Ultron will do, Male-Female Friendship, Mentions of Fantastic Four, Natasha Is a Good Bro, Not Canon Compliant, Or Season 3, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Protective Natasha Romanov, Smart!Hulk, Spiders Have To Stick Together, This is Straight-Up AU now, Very little Peter in this one, Way Too Many Tags, Women Being Awesome, mentioned Bruce & Hulk interaction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-24
Updated: 2014-12-24
Packaged: 2018-03-03 08:26:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2844524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starbooks13/pseuds/Starbooks13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Bruce deals with the fallout from Hulk and Spidey's mind-swap and Natasha is a good friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Episode 2.14: The Incredible Spider-Hulk

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas, my darling readers! As your present, here is a new story! :)

                Bruce sat on the porch of his rental house, sipping his first cup of tea as he watched the sun rise. Vista Verde hadn’t changed much in the years since the accident.  It was still a sleepy little government research town in the middle of nowhere, the perfect place to perform dangerous experiments.  In other words, the perfect place for Bruce and Hulk to get some peace and quiet after the Mesmero incident.

                Of course, the sleek black car pulling up to the curb meant that perhaps his little sabbatical from superhero work was quickly coming to an end.  He finished the rest of his cup as Natasha emerged from the driver’s side and made her way up the front sidewalk.  She stopped at the foot of the porch steps, but Bruce stood and motioned for her to follow him inside.  “I was just about to get a second cup of tea.  Want some?”

                “Sure, thanks.”  Bruce led her inside the house, not bothering to lock the door behind him.  SHIELD had rented the house for him and given the town officials the heads-up that he was coming, so no one was exactly trying to break down the door.  He had groceries and other necessities delivered, including several massive care packages courtesy of Stark Industries which contained his essential belongings from the Tower.  The team had clearly wanted to give him his space, which he greatly appreciated.  In the month he’d been there, Natasha was his first visitor.

                “So what brings you here?” he asked as they entered his small kitchen.  “Did something happen with the team?  Or does SHIELD have some question they need me to answer?”

                “Neither.”  He paused in the act of removing a second cup from the cupboard and turned his head to look at her.  She sat down at his two-person kitchen table and draped her arms over the back of the chair.  “Just wanted to drop by and see how you were.”

                Bruce turned away and shut the cupboard.  “That’s…thoughtful of you.”

                “If you don’t want me here—”

                “No!” He quickly turned to make sure she was still sitting down.  She was.  “That is, I-I’m fine with you being here.”  That was probably as close as he could get to saying he was happy to see her.  Even Hulk was giving off what Bruce could only describe as pleased vibes.

                Natasha, being Natasha, understood anyway, if the slight upturn at the corners of her mouth was anything to go by.  She sat forward, leaning her elbows on the tabletop.  “So how is everything?”

                He shrugged before turning back to pour the tea.  “Peaceful.  Quiet.  We’ve had lots of time to talk.”

                She raised an eyebrow.  “So the Other Guy—”

                “Hulk,” he interrupted, turning to bring the cups to the table.  “He wants to be called Hulk. Says he likes it.”

                “Sorry, Hulk,” she amended as she took her cup from him.  “He’s really smarter now?”

                Bruce nodded as he sat across from her.  “In that one respect, the experiment was a success.  He’s still himself, at his core, but he understands a lot more now.  It’s been…interesting, communicating with him now.  Much easier, too.”  The full sentences helped.

                “I’d imagine.” They spent the next few minutes in companionable silence as they drank their tea.  It was one of Bruce’s favorite herbal blends from India, shipped in his last SI care package the previous week.  Natasha had probably been the one who slipped it in there, as it was one of her favorites as well.  Tea drinking was something they had in common; the rest of the team were all pretty big coffee people, Thor included.

                “So, how is the rest of the world doing?” He’d gone almost totally Internet silent and had avoided news channels like the plague, especially during his first week here.

                She shrugged.  “Mostly the same.  More attacks than usual since word got out that Hulk left New York, but obviously nothing we haven’t been able to handle.”  She smirked.  “Tony’s been hanging out at the Baxter Building a lot, though.  According to Ben, he’s alternated between driving Reed nuts because he keeps messing with his experiments and driving Sue nuts because he’s encouraging Reed’s mad science tendencies.” The smirk softened to a small smile.  “He misses you.”

                Bruce missed Tony too, at least a little.  It had been nice to have someone around that operated in the same IQ range as he did, not to mention someone who believed his…abilities were not to be feared, but embraced.  Honestly, he missed all of them, his team.  Hulk did as well.  But they’d both agreed—shocker of the century—that they should lay low until the media attention surrounding the incident in New York died down some.  They already had some of the worst press of anyone on the team; no need to make it worse.  “And the others?”

                “All doing well.  Steve and Clint are on assignment right now for Fury, and Thor just left for Asgard.”

                “So you were lonely and decided to come bother me,” he joked weakly.

                “I’d already been planning this trip since before they left.”

                He ducked his head, staring down at his now empty teacup.  “Well…thanks for coming, I guess.”

                “I figured after a month you’d be ready for some company.”

                He looked up and allowed himself a small smile.  “Seems you figured right.”

                “Media attention’s died down.  No one’s more or less upset than usual.  Jameson blames Peter for all of it.”

                Bruce chuckled.  “Of course he does.” He paused before continuing.  “We’re not ready.  Not yet.  We’re still dealing with the change.  There are things we need to figure out before I can come back.” She said nothing, merely reached over and set her hand atop his as he had once done for her.  He turned his hand over and threaded his fingers through hers.  “I will come back, Natasha.”

                “I know.” She squeezed his hand once before letting go and rising from the table.  She took both their cups and crossed to the small dishwasher, Bruce turning in his seat to watch her load the cups in.  After having done so, she walked back over, leaned down, and, to his shock, brushed petal-soft lips against his cheek.  “Take as long as you need. We’ll be waiting.”

                Before he could regain his composure, she was gone.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry it's been so long since I've written anything. My life has just been crazy overwhelming the past few months, and writing has been the last thing on my mind. Hopefully I'll be able to put up more new stuff during the holidays--including, for those of you who read them, new chapters in Never Underestimate A Girl and Identity (crosses fingers that that will actually happen).
> 
> Also, if I have not declared it so before, this is now an official AU of both the MCU and all of Marvel's animated properties. Mostly because it's clearly not entirely faithful to MCU canon and I refuse to let Bruce be removed from the story, because I love him and he's so great to write, especially interacting with Natasha. In the case of this series' future, I sincerely hope that there will not be a lot of Nat!angst for a while, because you guys are probably sick of reading it and I was getting sick of writing it, even though the muse demanded it be done. At the very least, I can promise the next story will be zero angst and all dealing with absurdity left in the wake of one Merc with a Mouth. ;)


End file.
